The Hudsucker Proxy (1994): A Hilarious film about the World of Business

Robbins plays Norman Barnes, a mail clerk at a big New York company, Hudsucker Industries, in the 1950s. Newman’s character, Sidney Mussburger, a member of the Board of Directors of Hudsucker Industries, hatches a plot to grab controlling interest in the company by driving the stock prices down. The plan: hire the hapless Barnes as the president of the company. Of course the plan backfires, when Barnes’s hair-brained idea “for kids” becomes the biggest fad of the fifties… the hula hoop.

It’s full of Coen-esque wit, and Robbins brings the same kind of likability that made Andy Dufresne such an understated hero in The Shawshank Redemption.

A cult classic, and a fun look at big business… or at least Joel and Ethan Coen’s somewhat skewed take on it.